A
thoroughly entertaining evening was soon evident with the participation
of a warm audience, including interactive dialogue with Paul Higgs,
trumpet, as he began his potted history of jazz through the ages with a
variety of music depicting the changes that has taken place over the
years. Starting from jazz traditional roots in New Orleans, into the New
York scene of the big swing bands and then with a slight excursion into
the period of gypsy jazz, where Paul introduced his melodica,
reproducing a typically French accordion sound that accompanied gypsy
style, quickly followed by the introduction of the bebop era.
Interspersed through this history lesson, Sharon Scottsang some
beautiful tunes accompanied by Paul with the resident trio. Paul's
popularity was shown by the appreciation of a good audience.

Paul Higgs, trumpet

Sharon Scott with resident trio

Paul
Higgs with trio

FEBRUARY

Wow, wow, wow another exhilarating evening with
Graham Pike, whose creative manner breathes new life into so many tunes,
and arrangements bringing a new dimension to many older numbers. Among
the titles he gave this approach to was a little known number composed
by Steve Kuhn titled 'Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers' which for most of
the audience was a first and he followed this with Neal Hefti's, 'Late
Date'. Hilary Cameron gave her stylish rendering to one of her Latin
numbers and our regular warbler Sharon Scott gave her rendering of 'It's
Only a Paper Moon' during which, Graham, with his box of tricks, made
her sound like Donald Duck bringing much mirth from all present. In this
temporary venue thanks go to all who attended bringing a warm ambience
to the evening. Pictures courtesy of Peter Henry Evans

Graham Pike,
flugelhorn

Quartet Graham Pike, Hilary

Cameron, keys, Ted Simkins, bass

& Tim Reyland, drums

Graham Pike,
harmonica

,

MARCH

An initial hiccup turned
into an hilarious evening for our guest Andy Linham
that began when Hilary Cameron became stuck in traffic on the A13 and
panic bells rang for a stand-in that arrived in the form of Paul Higgs
who saved the situation. Well done Paul! We owe you. Andy took all this
in his stride and suggested Paul tried cross dressing to replicate
Hilary, who fortunately for the audience, arrived just in time to take
her place at the keyboard in the middle of a number amid wild laughter!
Andy's humour continued with a mixture of music, jokes and very bad puns
originally based on letters of the alphabet which eventually was
discarded. What did shine through however was the masterful tone and
taste of Andy's playing of tunes in an off-the-cuff, unrehearsed evening
that appealed to all present. Selected from Andy's programme were his
rendering of the 'bad salads' or standard ballads 'Beautiful
Love' and 'Lover Man' both played delightfully, closely followed by
Charlie Parker's 'Confirmation' and a tasteful arrangement of
'Autumn Leaves'. Probably one of the Club's most hilarious and
unforgettable evenings.

Andy Linham alto, &
trio

Andy Linham, Alto

Dave Grant, drums

APRIL

With a sense of
anticipation the audience watched as musicians set the stage providing
our guest JohnnyWithers with
the prime spot. The trio opened with a lively rendition of 'In a
Mellow Tone' and then was joined by Johnny whose amazing ability on
vibes continued the set with 'Cedars Blues', 'it's You and only
You' and an up-tempo 'Just in Time. the quartet then continued
with Hilary Cameron
vocalising with two jazz standards 'East of the Sun', 'I Get a
Kick Out of You' and concluded with a beautiful Latin favourite
'Trieste' by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The second set began with Johnny
stating he had been set a task he had not planned for, that of playing a
melody with a hidden theme for the audience to find which was easily
guessed to which Johnny commented 'I must do better'. He
continued to entertain his artistry with 'There Will Never be Another
You','Only Trust Your Heart' and Duke Ellington's 'Satin
Doll'. In the penultimate number, Johnny, duelling, note for note
with Hilary racing along at a fast pace brought forth her comment
'Johnny really flew that number', beforethe evening 's lastnumber, by request, on 'On Green Dolphin Street'.
Earlier in the evening, Johnnyhad introduced an old friend to
the Club, Dave Barnes, a singer from earlier times at The Old House who
graciously accepted an invitation to sing the jazz standard
'Corcovado' ['Quite Nights'] to everyone's delight. Throughout the
evening with plenty of humorous exchanges that contributed to a relaxed
atmosphere among the audience brought forth the comment from one member,
when leaving the Club, "In all my visits to this Jazz Club, I've never
left disappointed".[Report
& Photos: Brian Leith]

Johnny Withers and
the trio

Johnny Withers on
vibes

Hilary Cameron
vocalising

MAY

An
air of anticipation was seen among the guests as the evening's five
musicians plus a surprise guest singer started to set up. There was
good-humoured confusion as three keyboard players assembled the stands
for their instruments with regular player Hilary Cameron
being flanked by the long awaited return of Bruce Boardman,
and the ever popular Paul Higgs
accompanied by Ted ("The Hat")
Simkins on bass, and standing in
for Dave Grant, Tim Reyland
on drums Kicking off the evening, Hilary took
the first solo spot and also sang, as she remarked was her favourite
tune, the Marvin Gaye classic "I Heard it on the Grapevine," and
continued on with the beautiful "On Green Dolphin Street." Bruce Boardman, accompanied the talented
guest vocalist Kate Daniels
[a first-timer to Bardswell ], who gave a delightful rendition of the
little known Benny Golson number "Whisper Not", with her voice
sounding very reminiscent of the great Julie London. Bruce ended with a
clever arrangement of the jazz standard "Lover Come Back to Me".

Next
was Paul who played an unusual but pleasing arrangement of "The A
Train" followed by a funky-styled version of "Coming Home Baby",
with an interpretation of the Mel Torme classic surprising and
delighting the audience. After the interval Hilary started off by
singing "Old Devil Moon" and then accompanied Kate again, who
before singing her version of the Peggy Lee favourite "Get Out of
Town", gave the audience a little background as to how some
composers came to write their songs. Bruce returned to accompany Kate
with a beautiful arrangement of Cole Porter's "Night and Day,"
which clearly delighted the audience. Completing his "spot" his artistry
was demonstrated with another great tune - "You Go to My Head."

Paul
then introduced his other keyboard the hand-held Melodica and together
with the trio of Hilary, Ted and Tim began to blow the pleasant French
tune, with that haunting sound of a typical French gypsy jazz accordion,
called "Flambée Montalbanaise". With time running out the evening
ended riotously with what can only be described as a mad form of musical
chairs with Hilary, Paul and Bruce sharing one keyboard, chasing each
other around the instrument whilst simultaneously playing, a never
before heard version of, "Honeysuckle Rose." It is difficult to
say who enjoyed this entertaining spectacle the most - the audience or
three outstanding musicians. However, praise must also go to Ted, on
bass and Tim, drums, who maintained a steady beat whilst this riot of
musical mayhem was going on.

All
too soon the evening came to a close and as an encore the five
musicians, backed Kate Daniels in her choice of a little-known song
"I Keep Going Back to Joe's", a number she performed with great
feeling. A night to remember was obvious that both the audience and the
entertainers alike enjoyed an unusual musical experience - three
keyboards delivering something that may never be experienced again - Now
that's entertainment!

The combination ofBill YeomansandChris Storeywas ideal, together
with our resident trio, playing a varied programme of tunes made some
interesting listening. They opened with a soulful 'In a Mellow Tone'
that was followed by a classic Duke Ellington version of 'Cottontail'
then swiftly into a Latin tempo 'Fly Me To The Moon' with Bill on
flute and Chris with a very mellow muted trumpet. Bill then introduced
Nat Adderley's blues tune 'Daddy O', which had the trio scurrying
around for their parts, before Bill soloed on flute, with the trio, on a
waltz time 'Alice in Wonderland' which a lot of the audience had
not heard before. Bill then told a little story on introducing the next
number 'Stella by Starlight', or as often referred to by
musicians as 'Drinking at Night', told to him by Dick Pearce about
Courtney Pine relating that playing Stella by Starlight at Ronnie
Scott's was like playing in a wine bar. When Ronnie heard this from Dick
he said 'that's all I ever wanted to do in a wine bar'. The second set
began with Stanley Turretines tune 'Sugar' followed by that old
favourite 'Moaning' before Hilary Cameron soloed on a little bit
of Carribean style with 'St.Thomas' and then were treated by a
Chris Storey flugelhorn solo of the beautiful ballad 'Angel Eyes'.
Coming towards the end the quintet played Dexter Gordon's 'Apple
Jump' and finally concluded the evening with a roaring 'Take the
A Train' that brought another successful evening of JAZZ to a
close. No photographs available

JULY

The evening opened with the resident trio
of Hilary,Ted and Dave playing a totally different arrangement of
'Honeysuckle Rose' than that hilarious version we heard at the three
keyboard gig last May. Dave then introduced our guest for the evening,
his first visit to our Club, Al
Nicholls,
who began with his arrangement of that old favourite 'Zing Went the
Strings of My Heart'. His rather sultry swinging tenor saxophone
sounding very reminiscent of those 40's and 50's tenor players. The
evening continued, with all arrangements by Al Nicholls, playing a tune
that was written 100 years old next year by Ray Hubble titled 'Poor
Butterfly' that silenced everyone. This was followed by that
beautiful ballad 'God Bless The Child' a hauntingly whispering
tune that preceded a blistering up tempo arrangement of 'Love for
Sale'.'Till There Was You' was another ballad played with
extreme subtle tone, timing and feeling before finishing the first set
with 'If I Had You'. After the interval the trio opened the
second set with 'How High the Moon' before Al Nicholls returned
to the stand to treat the Cole Porter standard 'Night and Day'
with a Latin flavour highlighting the trio and Al's great
synchronisation. The next tune was the composition by Bernice Petkere,
who Irving Berlin called the 'Queen of Tin Pan Alley', titled
'Lullaby of the Leaves' a lovely standard before embracing a soulful
'Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered' bringing forth the full
range of the tenor sax. Al then suggested that Hilary Cameron treated us
to one of her Latin vocals for which she chose the Antonio Carlos
Jobim's classic 'Wave', warmly received and ably accompanied by
Al's tenor. An evening without a Duke Ellington number is unheard of so
Al dutifully introduced one of Duke's favourites 'Do Nothing Till You
Hear From Me', before the evening culminated with that timeless
standard 'Tangerine' played at a riptide pace leaving everyone
breathless bringing proceedings to a close with the sizeable audience
appearing impressed with our guest's first visit giving the opinion we
will surely see him again at the Club.

AUGUST

At the height of the
summer holiday, whilst the weather was no indicator, the size of
audience certainly did but nevertheless Carole Braithwaite with her new keyboard
accompanist, Tony
Gooderham provided
some tunes that were certainly not run of the mill numbers played with
some being quite obscure to the general music scene. Carole indicated
she had recently found the music of Harold Arlen fascinated her and
proceeded to sing some of his numbers that included 'As Long As I
Live', 'Illwind', and a number she has chosen to end her shows with
'Hit The Road to Dreamland'.The pick of other tunes she
sang with great feeling were 'Corcavado', 'But Beautiful',
'Summertime', 'Lonesome Road' and the Sophie Tucker favourite
'One Sweet Letter From You'. Interspersing Carole's vocals,the trio
led by Tony Gooderham played some of his highly interesting arrangements
opening with 'What Now My Love', 'Lover Man', 'Moonlight in Vermont'
and an excellently executed Antonia Carlos Jobim's 'Wave'.
Laugh of the evening, watching Ted Simkins seek out a music sheet for
'Blue Moon' that ended scattered all over the floor to much laughter and
some jocular remarks from Carole and with Ted saying 'I don't need it'.

SEPTEMBER

The trio opened with
Hilary Cameron's choice of that old jazz standard 'On Green Dolphin
Street' before
Graham Hunter
joined them with his version of 'That Old Feeling'. Graham is
very much at ease with a Club atmosphere and where he switches from one
style to another still connecting with his audience that he followed on
with a flugelhorn rendering of 'Blue Moon' and immediately into
Freddie Hubbard's, 'Little Sunflower' and into that great number
from the musical Crazy Girl, 'But Not For Me'. The first set was
completed of mixed genre numbers that included 'Mercy,Mercy,Mercy',
Zawinul's ballad, 'Invisible Light', followed by 'Spooky'
and a bluesy 'I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water' . The second set
began with Graham's valve trombone version of 'Bernies Tune'
followed swiftly with Herbie Hancock's 'Canteloupe Island', andMilt Jackson's 'Bags Groove'. Hilary Cameron then continued
with 'Just Friends' and throughout the evening Graham vocalised
on many of his numbers with his smokey muted sound as a memory of Chet
Baker with great effect as on 'Try a Little Tenderness'. Horace
Silver's 'Sister Sadie' followed and the evening ended with
'Sway', Oliver Nelson's 'Stolen Moments' before a surprise
harmonica solo in Graham's final number 'Room With a View'. His
choice and style of playing was well received by an enthusiastic
audience.

Graham Hunter
creates the ideal Club atmosphere

OCTOBER

A good
attendance
of jazz
lovers
gathered
together for
the October
gig and the
evening
kicked off
with the
resident
trio of
Hilary,
accompanied
by Ted on
bass and
Dave on
drums, giving
a lively
interpretation
of Antonio
Carlos
Jobim’s,
"Desifinado".
Following
this, Dave
introduced a
welcome
return to
the club of
the hugely
popular and
highly
talented
guitarist
Dominic
Ashworth
and a
newcomer to
'Jazz at the
Bardswell',
tenor
saxophonist
Kevin
McMahon.
From the
first few
chords of
the
enchanting
Vincent
Rose’s
composition,
”Whispering",
Kevin
Mcmahon made
it clear
that
devotees of
the genre
were in for
a real
treat. It
must be
pointed out
that the
appearance
of his
saxophone
looked as
though it
might have
been found
in a skip,
but talking
to him later
he revealed
that it was
of 1951
vintage and
regarded as
the
Rolls-Royce
of tenor
saxes. When
asked,
tongue in
cheek, if he
was saving
up to buy a
new one, he
stepped back
in mock
horror at
the
suggestion
that he
might prefer
a nice shiny
one! Continuing
with
"Sometimes
I'm Happy”,
a 1927 tune
made famous
by Charles
King and
Louise
Groody”, his
stance
clearly
indicated
how wrapped
up he was in
his
instrument
and the
fantastic
music he was
creating. He
wasn't just
playing a
saxophone,
every number
was a
performance
and was met
with
enthusiastic
applause by
an
appreciative
audience.
Making up
the fifth
member of
the group,
Dominic
Ashworth is
a musician
whose
musical
talent is
often
understated.
A modest
musician, at
times he may
be almost
unnoticed,
but then his
skill comes
to the fore
and it
becomes
obvious that
he is a
master of
the guitar.
Dominic and
Kevin have
played
together
before and
it was plain
to see how
beautifully
they
combined as
a duo,
executing
some
delightful
riffs each
echoing the
other's
notes with
immaculate
timing and
perfect
harmony.
Resident
trio:
Hilary, Ted
and Dave
dovetailed
with the two
lead
musicianship
moving
seamlessly
in and out
of solo
spots with
absolute
precision.
One might be
forgiven for
thinking
that each
month they
and the
guests play
together all
the time or
at the very
least
practice
together
regularly,
which of
course is
not the
case. The
evening
progressed
with a
collection
of great
numbers all
of which
were
executed
with superb
artistry by
the
ensemble,
these
numbers
included
Duke
Ellington’s,
”Perdido";
Hoagy
Carmichael’s
"Stardust";
"Love me or
Leave me”,
written by
Donaldson
and Kahn;
"Everything
Happens to
Me”,
composed by
Matt Dennis;
and closing
the first
set with a
lively
rendition of
"Sweet
Georgia
Brown”
composed by
Bernie and
Pinkhard.
The group
opened the
second set
with
"Baubles,
Bangles and
Beads”, by
Forest and
Wright, and
followed
with another
selection of
standards
including
“Undecided”,
Sid Robins
and Charlie
Shavers;
"Wrap your
Troubles in
Dreams”,
Billy Moll;
Cole
Porter’s,
”It's
Alright with
Me";
“Broadway";
Ray Noble’s,
”The Very
Thought of
You";
Bourbon
Street
Parade”, by
drummer Paul
Barbarin;
"Jazz N'
Samba”,
another
Antonio
Carlos Jobim
number; and
finishing
with
"Falling in
Love with
Love”,
composed by
Richard
Rogers.
Everybody
agreed it
was a hugely
entertaining
evening with
performances
of a very
high
standard
executed by
consummate
professional
musicians,
and it was
generally
felt that
the tunes,
selected by
Dominic and
Kevin, were
tailor made
for the
audience
they played
to, a
sprinkling
of ballads,
with swing
and up tempo
numbers and
without any
doubt a
return of
the two
guests is
something
that would
be welcomed
and indeed
looked
forward to. Report:
Brian
Leith.
Photographs
courtesy of
Peter H.
Evans

Dominic Ashworth

Dominic Ashworth & Kevin Mcmahon

with resident trio of Hilary,Ted and
Dave

Kevin
Mcmahon

NOVEMBER

With it being the final gig of the year, there was a "good house"
as regulars were joined by friends and relatives to swell the
numbers, for this ticketed "party night." Setting up their
instruments on the stage in the main part of the club were regulars
Hilary Cameron - piano, Ted Simkins - bass, and Dave Grant - drums,
with guest musicians Gary Wood - trumpet and vocals, Martin Nickless
- clarinet, and Derek Crenshaw, trombone. Starting the evening the
resident trio Hilary, Ted and Dave gave a lively rendition of Way
Back Home in Indiana, followed by Ellington's Perdido.
Joining the trio on stage Gary Wood's led with Dancing Cheek to
Cheek, followed by Won’t You Come Home Bill Bailey,
singing, and playing his trumpet on both numbers. A change of mood
followed with a Latin-styled S'wonderful and on to the Joe
William's favourite Everyday I Have the Blues. There had been
much discussion between the players as they considered the how and
who of each number. The first half closed the six musicians blended
well to perform the traditional number the Jazz Band Ball.

A very generous supper in the form of a finger buffet had been laid
out with sufficient food to feed the cast of “Ben Hur.” In the
selection were pork pies, sausage rolls, spicy chicken pieces,
Scotch eggs, chicken wings, simosas, plus sandwiches with a variety
of fillings and various salads. Christmas cake, mince
pies, fruit and cheese completed the sumptuous choice and all credit
must go to our hosts Joyce and Dave

Opening the second half Hilary, Ted and Dave gave a lively
performance of the 1939 Duke Ellington standard In a Mellow Tone
which was followed by regular songstress Sharon Scott who
performed the 1935 Irving Berlin number Isn’t This a Lovely Day.
The three guest musicians returned to the stage and joining the trio
kicked off with a couple of requests from the audience - Kenny
Ball’s hit Midnight in Moscow and that great jazz favourite
On Green Dolphin Street. Hilary enthralled us with a great
performance, playing and singing Peggy Lee’s The Lady is a Tramp,
which was followed with a trumpet solo by Gary Wood, I Can’t
Get Started, and a vocal rendition by trombonist Derek Crenshaw
of I’m Going to Sit right down and Write Myself a Letter.
Clarinetist Martin Nickless was up next (after cracking a terrible
joke, which I won’t repeat), with his version played at pace, of the
Sophie Tucker hit Some of these Days. The ensemble closed the
evening with another Ellington number Don’t get
Around much Anymore, the three guest musicians exercising their vocal chords.

The informal nature of the club was much in evidence - between
numbers the musicians discussed what they would play next and joked
between themselves and the audience. The evening represented a good
finale to an interesting and very entertaining year of Jazz at the
Bardswell, with a range of brilliant practitioners of the genre
giving great performances. We look forward to 2016 and
re-establishing contact with these masters of the art of playing
jazz. We are grateful to Joyce, and Dave and the other two regular
members of the trio - Hilary and Ted, for all that they do to make
evenings, as they say, “go with a swing” - literally.